Penn-Trafford boys lacrosse coming together

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, April 21, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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It took the Penn-Trafford boys lacrosse team a month to find its groove.

But after a three-game losing streak in late March, the Warriors won five of their last six games. The lone loss was to Class 3A Butler in a nonsection match.

Penn-Trafford (4-1, 7-4) finds itself a game behind Section 1-2A leader South Fayette (5-0, 9-1) through April 18. The Warriors are half-game behind Bethel Park (5-1, 8-2).

During their current streak, the Warriors have found their scoring touch defeating Hempfield (13-9), Moon (20-10), Indiana (8-7), Seton-LaSalle (18-8) and Chartiers Valley (15-2).

“It’s really a matter of the guys coming together,” Penn-Trafford coach Charles Hach said. “We have several multiple-sport athletes and coming together doesn’t happen overnight. We also had a few injured players that we got back.”

Penn-Trafford’s roster features 16 seniors, 14 back from the 2023 team, and eight are returning starters.

Heading the list are senior captains Braeden Mastine, Mark Jollie and Bryce Kropczynski.

Mastine is planning to play lacrosse at Mercyhurst.

Another key contributor is senior defenseman Conner Alsing, who plans to play at Marietta.

Since Hach took over the program in 2020, the Warriors had made steady improvements. They won four games in 2021, 10 games in 2022 and 14 games in 2023.

The Warriors reached the WPIAL semifinals in 2023 but fell to South Fayette. They dropped a third-place game to Hampton.

“The goal is to make it back to the playoffs,” Hach said. “I don’t think we clinched yet, but we’re in good position. We’re making progress.”

The top six teams in the section qualify for the playoffs.

Others playing well are junior attacker Gavin Weaver, junior defensive midfielder Blake Branthoover and senior midfielder Brady McClintock along with the Scarcelli twins on defense, Vito and Nino.

Hach is working with two goalies – junior Chase Morocco and sophomore Abram Stahl.

“We have a good rotation,” Hach said. “It’s good to be working with two and both are very capable.”

Penn-Trafford had a huge section match at Latrobe scheduled for April 18 and then a nonsection game against Baldwin on April 19.

The Warriors also have matches against Greensburg Central Catholic on April 23, at Knoch on April 26, at Gateway on April 30, Bethel Park on May 2 and at Franklin Regional on May 7.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

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